--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: At sixty, I know little more about wisdom…" description: "\"At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.\" — Mason Cooley" image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png" --- # At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at… ![“At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.” quote by Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png) > “At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.” [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Age brings more insight into foolishness than into wisdom; experience teaches what to avoid more than what to achieve. **In simple terms:** Older people recognize folly better than they grasp wisdom. Key Takeaway Learn from mistakes rather than chase abstract wisdom. Themes wisdom folly experience age humor Mood reflective lighthearted Type philosophical inspirational When to use this quote - career mentorship - parenting - financial planning - health decisions - creative endeavors Key Concepts philosophy psychology life lessons Questions to Reflect On - What folly have you learned from recently? - How can you turn experience into actionable wisdom? A Different Perspective Wisdom is still elusive despite age; humility remains essential. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Folly](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly/) [Wisdom](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/wisdom/) ## Related quotes > [Oh why was I born for this time? Before one is thirty to know more dead than living people.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/cynthia-asquith/oh-why-was-i-born-for-this-time-before-one-is-thirty-to-know-more/) Cynthia Asquith > [“When you hit thirty-five or forty, you know on one level that you are no longer the physical specimen you once were.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/harlan-coben/when-you-hit-thirty-five-or-forty-you-know-on-one-level-that-you-are/) [Harlan Coben](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/harlan-coben/) > [“You know, from what I've seen, at twenty you know you're not going to be a rock star. By twenty-five, you know you're not…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/douglas-coupland/you-know-from-what-i-ve-seen-at-twenty-you-know-you-re-not-going-to/) [Douglas Coupland](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/douglas-coupland/) > [When you experience difficulty at work or in your life, instead of looking back on it as something that was really challenging, look at…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/caroline-ghosn/when-you-experience-difficulty-at-work-or-in-your-life-instead-of/) [Caroline Ghosn](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/caroline-ghosn/) > [... where Solomon says that 'Wisdom has built herself a house' (Prov. 9:1), he refers darkly in these words to the preparation of the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gregory-of-nyssa/where-solomon-says-that-wisdom-has-built-herself-a-house-prov-9-1-he/) [Gregory of Nyssa](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/gregory-of-nyssa/) > [“With them the Seed of Wisdom did I sow, And with my own hand labour'd it to grow: And this was all the Harvest…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-fitzgerald/with-them-the-seed-of-wisdom-did-i-sow-and-with-my-own-hand-labour-d/) [Edward FitzGerald](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-fitzgerald/) > [“Mr Wisdom,' said the girl who had led him into the presence. 'Ah,' said Howard Saxby, and there was a pause of perhaps three…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/p-g-wodehouse/mr-wisdom-said-the-girl-who-had-led-him-into-the-presence-ah-said/) [P.G. Wodehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/p-g-wodehouse/) > [“Ancient wisdom did not disappear. We simply stopped knowing how to listen.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/gabriela-jurosz-landa/ancient-wisdom-did-not-disappear-we-simply-stopped-knowing-how-to/) Gabriela Jurosz-Landa > [ Enough words, little wisdom. \[Lat., Satis eloquentiae sapientiae parum.\] ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sallust/enough-words-little-wisdom-lat-satis-eloquentiae-sapientiae-parum/) [Sallust](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sallust/) > [It is astonishing with how little wisdom mankind can be governed, when that little wisdom is its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-ralph-inge/it-is-astonishing-with-how-little-wisdom-mankind-can-be-governed-when/) [William Ralph Inge](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-ralph-inge/) > [A little foolishness, enough to enjoy life, and a little wisdom to avoid the errors, that will do.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/anonymous/a-little-foolishness-enough-to-enjoy-life-and-a-little-wisdom-to/) [Anonymous](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/anonymous/) > [A little wisdom is indeed possible; but this blessed security have I found in all things, that they prefer--to DANCE on the feet of…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/friedrich-nietzsche/a-little-wisdom-is-indeed-possible-but-this-blessed-security-have-i/) [Friedrich Nietzsche](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/friedrich-nietzsche/) > [I've reached the age of 32 with little wisdom, I'm afraid. It's tragic. I still have to turn to my mum and dad for…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/russell-howard/i-ve-reached-the-age-of-32-with-little-wisdom-i-m-afraid-it-s-tragic/) [Russell Howard](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/russell-howard/) > [Isn't it interesting what a stranger can offer? A little wisdom, a little mercy, a little love.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/david-ebershoff/isn-t-it-interesting-what-a-stranger-can-offer-a-little-wisdom-a/) [David Ebershoff](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/david-ebershoff/) > [Common and vulgar people ascribe all ills that they feel to others; people of little wisdom ascribe to themselves; people of much wisdom, to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/epictetus/common-and-vulgar-people-ascribe-all-ills-that-they-feel-to-others/) [Epictetus](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/epictetus/) ## More by Mason Cooley > [Nostalgia keeps dissolving the ironic narratives in which I have contained my past.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/nostalgia-keeps-dissolving-the-ironic-narratives-in-which-i-have/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The modernist writers found despair inspirational.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-modernist-writers-found-despair-inspirational/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most abject have a sense of superiority based on powerful though undefined merits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-abject-have-a-sense-of-superiority-based-on-powerful/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Money comes to life as it is spent.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/money-comes-to-life-as-it-is-spent/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Even the most fickle are faithful to a few bad habits.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/even-the-most-fickle-are-faithful-to-a-few-bad-habits/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Rage is exciting, but leaves me confused and exhausted.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/rage-is-exciting-but-leaves-me-confused-and-exhausted/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Literary tradition is full of lies about poverty-the jolly beggar, the poor but happy milkmaid, the wholesome diet of porridge, etc.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/literary-tradition-is-full-of-lies-about-poverty-the-jolly-beggar-the/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Experience teaches us, but we scarcely know what.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/experience-teaches-us-but-we-scarcely-know-what/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The body has a mind of its own.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-body-has-a-mind-of-its-own/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [In retirement, I look for days off from my days off. Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/in-retirement-i-look-for-days-off-from-my-days-off-mason-cooley/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [My intentions go one way, my desires another. Thus I feel both self-indulgent and deprived.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/my-intentions-go-one-way-my-desires-another-thus-i-feel-both-self/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [The Puritan sours his pleasures by disguising them as duties.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/the-puritan-sours-his-pleasures-by-disguising-them-as-duties/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Unlike the actual, the fictional explains itself.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/unlike-the-actual-the-fictional-explains-itself/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Vacations prove that a life of pleasure is overrated.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/vacations-prove-that-a-life-of-pleasure-is-overrated/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) > [Outside literature, high-flown sentiments are merely exasperating.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/outside-literature-high-flown-sentiments-are-merely-exasperating/) [Mason Cooley](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) [Explore all 1,401 Mason Cooley quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/) ## More Folly quotes > [My folks tried to make a preacher of me and missed by a narrow margin… I would have made a good one if I…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-a-heinlein/my-folks-tried-to-make-a-preacher-of-me-and-missed-by-a-narrow-margin/) [Robert A. Heinlein](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-a-heinlein/) > [While the people retain their virtue and vigilance, no administration, by any extreme of wickedness or folly, can very seriously injure the government in…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/abraham-lincoln/while-the-people-retain-their-virtue-and-vigilance-no-administration/) [Abraham Lincoln](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/abraham-lincoln/) > [How arrogant - how very far from humility - would be the self-satisfied, smug assurance that God, a tidy-up-after-us God will come and clean…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sheldon-whitehouse/how-arrogant-how-very-far-from-humility-would-be-the-self-satisfied/) [Sheldon Whitehouse](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/sheldon-whitehouse/) > [“Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/proverbs-16-22-bible-kjv/understanding-is-a-wellspring-of-life-unto-him-that-hath-it-but-the/) Proverbs 16:22 Bible KJV > [Alcohol doesn't console, it doesn't fill up anyone's psychological gaps, all it replaces is the lack of God. It doesn't comfort man. On the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marguerite-duras/alcohol-doesn-t-console-it-doesn-t-fill-up-anyone-s-psychological/) [Marguerite Duras](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marguerite-duras/) > [Tis easy to break an idol, very easy: to regard the self as easy to subdue is folly, folly.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rumi/tis-easy-to-break-an-idol-very-easy-to-regard-the-self-as-easy-to/) [Rumi](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rumi/) > [You are my inspiration and my folly. You are my light across the sea, my million nameless joys, and my day's wage. You are…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/george-bernard-shaw/you-are-my-inspiration-and-my-folly-you-are-my-light-across-the-sea/) [George Bernard Shaw](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/george-bernard-shaw/) > [What curious little corners of folly are to be found in even the sanest brain!](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/marie-of-romania/what-curious-little-corners-of-folly-are-to-be-found-in-even-the/) [Marie of Romania](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/marie-of-romania/) > [Unnecessary hustle is one of the American follies. We hustle at both work and play, and consequently enjoy neither to the utmost.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/william-feather/unnecessary-hustle-is-one-of-the-american-follies-we-hustle-at-both/) [William Feather](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/william-feather/) > [HERMIT, n. A person whose vices and follies are not sociable.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/ambrose-bierce/hermit-n-a-person-whose-vices-and-follies-are-not-sociable/) [Ambrose Bierce](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/ambrose-bierce/) > [Democracy is the worst form of government. It is the most inefficient, the most clumsy, the most unpractical… It reduces wisdom to impotence and…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/robert-briffault/democracy-is-the-worst-form-of-government-it-is-the-most-inefficient/) [Robert Briffault](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/robert-briffault/) > [It is such a supreme folly to believe that nuclear weapons are deadly only if they're used.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/arundhati-roy/it-is-such-a-supreme-folly-to-believe-that-nuclear-weapons-are-deadly/) [Arundhati Roy](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/arundhati-roy/) > [One's conscience reproaches one much more stingingly for one's follies than one's crimes.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/geraldine-jewsbury/one-s-conscience-reproaches-one-much-more-stingingly-for-one-s/) [Geraldine Jewsbury](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/geraldine-jewsbury/) > [What folly made young people, even those in middle age, think they were immortal? How much better, their lives, if they could remember the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rohinton-mistry/what-folly-made-young-people-even-those-in-middle-age-think-they-were/) [Rohinton Mistry](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rohinton-mistry/) > [We are more heavily taxed by our idleness, pride and folly than we are taxed by government.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/benjamin-franklin/we-are-more-heavily-taxed-by-our-idleness-pride-and-folly-than-we-are/) [Benjamin Franklin](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/benjamin-franklin/) [Browse all 1,246 Folly quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/folly/) ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@graph": [ { "@type": "Quotation", "text": "At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.", "creator": { "@type": "Person", "name": "Mason Cooley" }, "isPartOf": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website" }, "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom-than-i-did-at-thirty-but-i/", "about": { "@type": "Thing", "name": "Folly" }, "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom-than-i-did-at-thirty-but-i/#quotation", "image": { "@type": "ImageObject", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png", "contentUrl": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/8d2/mason-cooley-92_folly_at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom_237120.png", "width": 1080, "height": 1080, "caption": "“At sixty, I know little more about wisdom than I did at thirty, but I know a great deal more about folly.” — Mason Cooley", "creditText": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "creator": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } } }, { "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "Quotes", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Mason Cooley", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/mason-cooley/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "At sixty, I know little more...", "item": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom-than-i-did-at-thirty-but-i/" } ], "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/mason-cooley/at-sixty-i-know-little-more-about-wisdom-than-i-did-at-thirty-but-i/#breadcrumb" }, { "@type": "WebSite", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#website", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "publisher": { "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization" } }, { "@type": "Organization", "@id": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/#organization", "name": "SMS4Smile Quotes", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/", "logo": { "@type": "ImageObject", "url": "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/wp-content/themes/sq/assets/icons/icon-512.png", "width": 512, "height": 512 } } ] } ```